Four years ago, Amadou Diallo arrived in Greece as a 16-year-old unaccompanied child from Guinea. Since arriving he has fought hard for his education and the right to asylum. Finally, at the end of July, after several failed attempts he was granted not only the right to asylum in Greece but with it, the path to take up a university scholarship in Paris.
In the Parisian suburb of Villejuif, a workshop run by the French NGO Renaissance trains unemployed people – including migrants – to create luxury fashion pieces from castoff clothes and linen. It’s a transformative experience as participants embark on a journey of acquiring professional integration skills in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner.
The UK government has deployed a military aircraft on Monday over the Channel as part of an increase in measures designed to deter migrants crossing. The government has also raised the possibility of using the Royal Navy to push migrant boats back and strengthen laws in order to make the crossing "unviable."
Earlier in the year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hoped to gain political leverage by threatening to send migrants and refugees into the EU. But numbers published by the European Commission show that his attempts were futile — largely because of the extent of the global pandemic slowing down migration patterns.
The UK Home Secretary has announced that she would be appointing a “Clandestine Channel Threat Commander” to lead the UK’s response to tackling illegal attempts to reach the UK by sea.
On Thursday, August 6, a new record was reached for the numbers of migrants attempting to cross the Channel between Britain and Europe in one day. According to reports, 235 migrants were detained on Thursday after being picked up by patrols.
The prefecture of Imperia announced the closure of Campo Roja, the reception center managed by the Red Cross in Ventimiglia, at the Italian border with France.
Omar Nahhas, 19, topped the dentistry field in France’s highly competitive first year of common medical studies, or PACES, in June. In an interview with a regional daily in Lorrain, in eastern France, the young Syrian refugee expressed his gratitude to all the people who helped him along the way.
Police in Paris have evacuated more than 1,250 people from a migrant camp on the bank of a canal in the suburb of Aubervilliers. Migrant support groups condemned the move and said permanent solutions needed to be found.
In just one month, the number of migrants living in the Aubervilliers camp in the Paris region has more than doubled, from 400 in mid-June to around 1,000 in mid-July. While arrivals are expected to continue over the next few weeks, NGOs denounce the failure of the French reception system.
In France, getting an appointment at the prefecture to apply for or renew a residence permit has become a near impossible task. The Defender of Rights has called on the interior ministry to take concrete measures to improve the situation.
Amadou Diallo received a scholarship for a prestigious French university. But the Guinean migrant, who arrived in the Greek island of Lesbos four years ago, has been trapped in Greece by an asylum process further delayed by the pandemic. A report in a leading French daily however has rekindled the young migrant’s hopes.